Back from Vacation

So I'm back fresh from a vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I brought my camera along but I'll admit there weren't many photographic revelations made there. I chose relaxation on the beach over souvenir photos. For anyone who cares, the place was great, its called Majestic Colonial. If you want to know more: email me.

Some experimentation with exposure time:
4.3 second exposure taken at night. Camera sitting on the floor of a bridge walkway, overlooking the resort's pool.
This is the post-card shot. This one was actually taken with a point and shoot camera. I'm learning that the inconvenience of carrying a large camera and multiple lenses limits your photographic expeditions.

I'm taking a strong liking to my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. The shot of the wooden lamp above was taken with it (some others on this site have been also). But I am constantly impressed by the crispness of portraits and general 'people pictures'. It was a very inexpensive and extremely versatile lens. I highly recommend it.

A lesson from vacationing ... having a nice camera and some decent photography skills is like being an excellent dentist or a world-class surgeon. No matter how good you or your equipment are - you can't use your skills on yourself. I handed over both of our cameras at least 20 times to strangers. The photos that were yielded were either 25 feet away, poorly composed, blurry, etc. I actually own a device that is a hand-held monopod made for taking photos of yourself - (maybe I'll write a review on it sometime) - in summary though, its of questionable value. Does anyone have any hints/tips on getting good photos of yourself taken by strangers?